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Producer Profile: Elmhurst Milked

This article was originally published in our Coop Scoop magazine by Member-Owner Pat Sahr.

Elmhurst, a producer of plant based nut “milks,” had its origin in Queens in the 1920s when Max and Arthur Schwartz began hand bottling cows’ milk in their father’s milk house. They called their business Elmhurst Dairy and delivered their fresh milk throughout Brooklyn and Queens. Almost 100 years later, Elmhurst has become one of the largest dairy manufacturers on the East Coast. Now owned by Max’s son Henry Schwartz and simply named Elmhurst, the company has recently developed an additional product: minimally processed nut milk which he claims is “just as nutritious and pure as conventional milk without the emulsifiers, thickeners and stabilizers used in most other plant based brands.”

Schwartz owes much to food entrepreneur and scientist Dr. Cheryl Mitchell who is renowned for developing cooking methods that retain the nutritional value of plant based foods. It was her expertise that was used to make the largest selling rice beverages in the United States. After 20 additional years of experimentation, she was finally able to unleash the proteins and all of the nutrients in grains, nuts, and seeds, using only traditional mechanical and fermentation methods. The end result was a deliciously creamy, natural plant milk having essentially all the nutrients and superior digestibility of the starting material.

Schwartz became interested in Dr. Mitchell’s methods for producing plant based milk products and convinced her to bring them to New York. Now Dr. Mitchell’s system is combined with Schwartz’s proprietary cold milling process and unique aseptic packaging. As a result Elmhurst is able to produce high quality nut milk and distribute it throughout the United States.

Honest Weight carries Milked Peanut, Milked Hazelnut and Milked Brown Rice. Try one and compare its flavor and texture with the plant based milk you have been enjoying!